Prep Girls Hoops: Eastland earns third place at state

NORMAL - Colleen Finn-Henze knew after the first half the state third-place game against Moweaqua Central A&M wouldn't be won with X's and O's.

In her mind, the contest would come down to who wanted it more.

"The adjustments that were made were more on a heart and hustle standpoint," the 23-year veteran Eastland coach said. "I felt like they wanted it more in the first half."

The Cougars roared back in the third quarter and took control in the fourth in a 55-50 win to secure third place.

Eastland (29-6) jumped out to an early 5-0 lead and closed out the first period with a 15-8 advantage. Then the Raiders (27-7) went on a 14-2 run, with Taylor Jordan (11 points, two steals) and Ryan Dooley (15 points, three steals) taking charge on offense.

A&M forward Morgan Damery didn't exactly fill up the stat sheet, but she did step up on defense and put Eastland's Lexis Macomber out of position on several possessions. Macomber didn't attempt a shot throughout the second quarter with 5-foot-10 Damery guarding her.

"It wasn't like she was taller than me or anything," Macomber said. "She was just a little bit bigger and a little stronger than I was.

"But I had to calm down and said something's going to fall."

Some shots began to fall for the Cougars in the third quarter. Eastland briefly had an advantage before A&M took it back. The tide began to change for Eastland after Damery was whistled for her third and fourth fouls with 2:07 left.

The Cougars erased the Raiders six-point lead with a Courtney Walker (eight points, three assists) 3-pointer and Macomber (game-high 15 points, seven rebounds) putback and free throw to tie it at 33-all going into the fourth quarter.

Hannah Hake scored five of her 11 points in the fourth even when A&M cut it close, but Eastland never relinquished its lead. Walker, Megan Janssen, Miranda Grisham, Breah Bookman and Izy Todd all contributed to Eastland's 22-point fourth quarter.

"It was a total team effort," Finn-Henze said, "much as it has been the whole year.

"I do think if unselfishness can be a problem, I think sometimes it was. Our guards would rather pass to these (forwards) than shot themselves. There were times when we became so two-dimensional that it was easy for teams to beat us. You realize we need to be more multifaceted and I think we did that."

Eastland wrapped up its season with its first-ever state tournament bid and capped it all off with a win for third place in Class 1A.

"We are one of the two teams out of 117 that finished with a win," Walker said. "That feels amazing.

"It's such an accomplishment."

"I couldn't ask for a nicer and more deserving group to finish the year with a win," Finn-Henze said.